A large part of the Fleet, I really don't know if I have to call it the Turkish fleet or the Allied fleet, or perhaps the German fleet, has come back into the Bosphorus. The names of the vessels are, of course, quite Turkish. The Goeben was rechristened Sultan Selim; the Breslau got instead the new name of Medilla, which means Mitilen, in Turkish.
The bridge on the Golden Horn is open, and yesterday the Goeben went right across the long bay and dropped anchor outside the Arsenal. Then on the ship began a sort of feverish work. A number of large flat-bottomed boats were sent out from the Arsenal loaded with workmen, who proceeded to do some mysterious repairs on board. It was possible to hear the continuous hammering, but the distance did not allow me to see what kind of work was going on.
Certainly no great damage had been done to the ship because, while the repairs were going on, a large quantity of ammunition and numerous cases which looked as though they contained foodstuffs were lifted on board with the help of two big cranes.
In the afternoon I made the acquaintance of a German officer who had been on board the Goeben during the last three years. He told me that the ship had not suffered any serious damage; something went wrong with the helm, but it would be all right in the evening.
My new friend seemed most proud of the exploits of his ship during the last month, and when I flattered his vanity by telling him that the Goeben and Breslau had been the talk of all Europe for many weeks, he was so pleased that he willingly told me all that had happened on board since the outbreak of war.
"It is a wonderful story," he began. "Two days before the outbreak of hostilities the Goeben was at Fiume loading coal, while the Breslau was in the southern part of the Adriatic Sea.
"We got orders to meet her at a certain spot in the open Mediterranean, and we sailed, leaving ashore a few of our men who had obtained short leave. Even our wireless operator was ill, and had to be left in the hospital at Fiume, but luckily enough we had somebody else on board who understood wireless as well as he did. If not, I don't know how we could have managed it, as when we were in the Ionian Sea the meeting-place with the Breslau was suddenly changed on account of some English ships which were reported leaving Malta that day, and likely to discover our route.
"As the declaration of war was expected at any moment, we were trying to go as far westward as possible in order to be able to do some damage either on the Algerian or Tunisian coast. We got another wireless message, and the order to show ourselves on the African coast, and to retreat as soon as possible to the Dardanelles. If necessary, the Turkish fleet would have protected our retreat into the Straits.
"We went straight to Bona and Philippeville, which were the only places of importance not too far from our position at that moment. You know what a lot of damage we managed to do in a few hours. Of course, the most important thing was not to destroy the towns, but to call the attention of the British and French fleets to that spot so that they would rush down there and leave us free the route to the Dardanelles.